We're Not Like Them
by JacksTortugaLass
Summary: Cid&Shera. A series of ten short ficlets regarding the relationship between Cid Highwind and Shera. None of these were betaed. Eleven out of ? uploaded. Rating for Cid's swearing mouth.
1. Open

The door was open but that didn't offer the invitation of entering. The door was shut, meaning that yes, you could enter but only if it was damn important. Shera soon found out that the furniture in the Captain's house swore as much as the Captain himself did. It had only taken her the one time to learn this backwards rule, the telling off had been as intense as if she had flushed his cigarettes down the toilet with him watching. And it had only taken Cid the one time to realize that his rule didn't apply to her. With Shera a closed door meant no entry while an open one meant that you could enter.

When he had walked into her room – without knocking of course – she had been in the middle of changing shirts. He stopped when he saw her, but instead of apologizing (Why did she expect that?) and leaving he stood there, staring. Covering herself up the best she could, she found herself unable to speak. When her voice did return he was already back in the hall, leaving the door wide open.

"If ya had just kept your damn door open, that wouldn't have happened." He called over his shoulder.

From then on Shera followed the house rule, careful to find a shadowy corner to change in. Strange as it was, she couldn't help but feel as if they had a connection now.

But she still shut and even locked the bathroom door nonetheless.

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Author's Notes: Thanks for reading!


	2. Outside

Her hands were getting wrinkled again. Not that it mattered, nor the fact that every Monday night was spent the same way.

Of course not.

She praised the inventor of the bulb over the sink for the upteenth time. It cast a small enough window of light outside so that she could make out Cid's form.

On the outside, Cid was rough, but on the outside of the house when everything was dark except for the end of his cigarette, Cid was a different man. He was quiet, reserved and, in Shera's mind, at peace. With his spear resting at his side and his gaze at the stars, Shera often wondered why this version of Cid was tucked away.

Pulling her hands out of the sink, she wiped them on a twoel, setting the kettle on the stove to boil water for tea. Taking a seat at the table, she merely stared as Cid came in and seated himself in front of her.

"How long you figure you're gonna watch me?"

"Sorry, Sir. I just start to daydream when I do the dishes."

"Strange you 'daydream' only on Monday nights."

Positive she was blushing madly, went to take the kettle off the stove. As she poured the tea, she thought she heard him chuckle, but dismissed it.

The next Monday, Cid had moved slightly closer to the window and once inside, asked how her hands were doing. Blushing again, she nodded, saying that they were fine.

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Author's Notes: Thanks for reading!


	3. Romance

Cid Highwind wasn't one for romance – or at least not about showing his feelings in a showy way like others.

So whenever his cigarettes were put out in the ashtray instead of on the coffee table or his teacup placed in the sink, Shera knew something was going on.

For the next couple days she watched him carefully but nothing changed from the norm: muddy boots were taken off halfway through the house leaving a trail; windows were left open; and lights were constantly on, never turned off when he left the room.

Then Shera would return from town or from upstairs and find the situations completely different. The muddy trail would be gone, and everything would be in its rightful place with Cid ignoring her until he stepped into his line of vision.

"What the hell you lookin' at?" He leaned over to try to get a clearer view of the television.

With a knowing look, she simply smiled, offered him his tea and leave, hearing his grumblings as she did so.

He did care. He just didn't show it in an outward way. And that made it seem all the more special.

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Author's Notes: Thanks for reading!


	4. Picky

The space for Cid's tea was empty. Not that there wasn't other brands and different flavors of tea all along the aisle, but the rest of the shelves might as well have been empty the way he was carrying on. Shera had long since given up on suggesting boxes. Her responses varied from a mere grunt to the question of "Do I look like I want a woman's tea?"

It was now fifteen minutes later and she was past feeling impatient. He still hadn't moved his eyes from the empty spot. Grabbing a box at random, she headed for the check out.

He was uncharacteristically silent as he stared into his cup. "It's pink."

Shera had lost count of how many times he had said that.

"Yes. Just ignore the color."

"But it's---"

"Don't say it."

Another minute of silence. Surely it was cold by now.

"Tastes the same?"

"Yes."

Hesitantly, he took a sip. "The hell you give me cold tea for?"

Shera took that as a sign that he like it but being a man, couldn't bring himself to admit it. Without saying a word, but having a smile that betrayed her, she boiled more water.

Cid held his biscuit in his new cup for a long while, turning the shade from a bright pink to a slightly darker shade.

Shera thought he seemed more at ease after doing so.

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Author's Notes: Thank you for reading!


	5. Opportunity

Based on the lyrics of "Sirens" and "In the Light of the Virgin Morning" from the Jane Eyre musical.

He's home.

How long it's been since she's yearned for his shadow to pass through the doorway and now he's finally home. Taking the cloth from his brow she can't help but smile. It's a different smile than she wanted to have, but a smile nonetheless. It was sad. She wanted to be happy that he was home, but she didn't want him home like this.

She moves his spear from the bedside to rest in the corner. He still wakes with warnings that the world is going to end and he has to save it. He has to save her.

The doctor assured Shera that he would be right in a few days. Rest was the prescription. Shera had added the cups of tea on her own instinct. A week had passed in this same fashion until one night, just as midnight approached. Shera had taken to sleeping in a chair in the corner, mainly to take better care of him. But the voice in her heart knew better than that. She couldn't stand the thought of not being near him, not after going through it for so long already.

"Shera?"

Shaking herself from her thoughts, she returned to his bedside. "I'm here."

"The world-"

"Is saved."

"Sephiroth-"

"Is gone."

"I-"

"Love me, I know." A slight blush warmed her cheeks but she didn't take back the statement. If anything, he seemed to look better upon hearing it.

Cid smirked, struggled with sitting up before falling slightly onto one elbow. "You just know everything, don't you?"

"Yes."

A few moments of silence passed, Cid tried to remove a bandage, claiming that he was fine, would she stop messin'? A brief brush of hands made Shera pull back.

"I do, you know."

Now it was Shera's turn to be silent, busying herself with pouring a cup of tea.

"You're gonna make me say it, ain't you?"

"Say what exactly?"

Cid grunted, digging in the drawer beside the bed, for what Shera thought was his cigarettes.

He tossed a box at her, folding his arms over his chest. "Want to?"

Shera frowned, opening the box with confusion. But then it was clear. He was proposing the diamond ring made that obvious. And of course he wouldn't do it like a 'normal' man, no, he had to do it the Highwind way.

"Ain't you gonna say yes?"

"What makes you think I would say such a thing?"

"'Cause you love me too."

Putting the ring on with a somewhat shaky hand, she was still for a moment before wrapping her arms around his neck and lying against him.

"Shera, you're leanin' right on my-"

"Shut up and enjoy it."

"So this is a 'yes'?"

"What do you think it is?"

"An invitation to sex."

With great difficulty Shera managed to not roll her eyes. "Cid."

"Shera."

Laying her head on his shoulder, she moved to lie beside him, "Just this once."

Cid was silent as the sun was starting to come over the trees. "I love you, Shera."

"That'll give you practice for the wedding."

A string of curses lulled her to sleep that night.


	6. Entertainment

Cid liked to play games with Shera. Specifically two games: one was to see if he could ever get her to swear back at him and the other was seeing how deep her blush could get. He enjoyed the second game the best.

He would be sure to stand almost too close to her while he rummanged through the cabinets or brush against her when reaching across the table for the potatoes. But the 'best' blush had to be earlier that morning.

Coming down the stairs, he almost laughed when he saw her reaction. She had been cooking breakfast and turned around as she heard him enter the kitchen. Dropping the plat of eggs, bacon, and biscuits to the floor, her hands flew to her now red face.

"C-Cid!"

"Damn it, woman. If I wanted to eat my breakfast on the floor I'd have been a damn dog. Now get to it." Making certain to give her a steady glare he retreated up the stairs before he lost it completely.

Still in shock, Shera could hear a very naked Cid's not so subtle attempt at trying to hide his laughter from upstairs.

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Author's Notes: Thank you for reading!


	7. Flying

The people in the town weren't subtle when they asked her how the Captain was at flying. And they didn't mean his airplanes either. At first Shera would say noghting, just blush and move away from them. But after coming home to find Cid upset that she hadn't said anything, Shera looked them dead in the eye and claimed that Cid was far better than their boyfriend/lover/husband.

As Shera watched as they walked away with shocked expressions, she felt his hand slide into her own.

"Damn right I'm better than that son of a bitch."

Shera just smiled and silently agreed that yes, Cid was better than all the men in Rocket Town. And not just at sex eithere, but at the things that were really important.

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Author's Notes: Thank you for reading!


	8. Strangers

"Damn it, it's like you don't know me at all."

Maybe she didn't but that didn't really change things.

"It's not that hard."

"Like hell it's not."

"Just for one day."

He said nothing but glared at her, his own way of agreeing with her.

It was a smiple enough exchange. As Cid put it 'a woman with that large of baggage shouldn't work' so he was in his own way making them switch jobs until the baby was born.

But Shera wasn't as good at fixing planes as he was. And Cid seemed foreign to the idea of mopping the floor.

So for one day they would go back to their places, each with more of an idea of what the other went through on a daily basis.

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Author's Notes: Thank you for reading!


	9. Ocean

The name hadn't been chosen yet.

When Shera jokingly offered both Cloud and Vincent as names, she was certain that Cid had pulled out all the stops, picking only the best swear words to show his disapproval. But after weeks of looking at paint samples, they had the perfect shade of blue. Or rather, Shera had the perfect shade.

She thought that Cid just wanted the room painted already. The color had to be just right, a mix of Cid's eyes and the blue shirt that he always wore.

When she found it, Shera did a little victory dance, or as much of a dance as she could manage. Cid said nothing but his eyes gave him away: he was excited.

They were one step closer to having the baby home.

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Author's Notes: Thank you for reading!


	10. Anger

When most people thought of Cid Highwind they thought of two things: tea and anger. Usually in that order. Shera had been one of those people thinking that there was nothing to him but cigarettes and swearing. And there were times, even after they had married, that she thought that maybe, just maybe, there wasn't anything left to discover about him. Not that she needed anything more, that she was certain of.

They had agreed on their feelings for each other (well, Shera had at least. Cid just waved his hand as he left the room, calling over his shoulder that whatevere seh said he agreed with) and that was all she truly wanted.

But now as she gingerly handed their baby son to him, she saw that there was even more to discover about him.

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Author's Notes: Thank you for reading!


	11. Fruits Basket

This is a little 'bonus' that I thought of while reading Fruits Basket manga. I've recently gotten into it and find it adorable, and also something that I could write Cid to get into as well. For those of you that may not know what I'm talking about, for this ficlet, all you really need to know is that Kyo [the cat is always yelling "I'm gonna get that damn rat!". Something I thought Cid could/would do. So. I hope you enjoy this little bonus.

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There was a rat in the house. Shera knew this, not because of the mouse droppings or hearing it skitter across the floor, but because of Cid's almost hourly declarations that he was 'going to get that damn rat'.

Shera said nothing as Cid made his rather loud declarations one morning, merely kissed his cheek as she went to run her errands.

Upon returning home, she found him on his hands and knees, peering into the bottom cabinet, "Come on out, you damn rat! I'll show you who's the top of the food chain in this house!"

Shera removed a book from her bags, handing it to Cid, "I think you'll find some common ground with Kyo."

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Author's Notes: Thank you for reading!


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